Thunderstorm Coming In, 2005
oil pastel, 13" x 16"
I began this drawing in the middle of an idyllic afternoon. The Monhegan light is just incredible and I had found a shady spot to sit and work. The rock that juts out just above Gull Rock was the perfect thing for me to work on. I sketched for a while and then started the oil pastel working in earnest a little later. As I finished some initial stages of drawing I heard a very distant roll of thunder. I kept on. I got the water and some of the sky worked in and began drawing in the trees on top of the rock. I noticed the clouds getting darker and the thunder louder. I started working faster, and got the rocks through the first stages of coloring in when the sky turned noticably darker. The light was beginning to change and I thought about the mile long walk (and climb) to get back to shelter. I finished off some basic notes on the colors and packed up as a chilly breeze swept past me, telling me to hurry. I made it back to the inn with no problem and it never did rain, so I had to finish the final stages back home in the studio.
